Shaw temporarily lays off 10% of its employees due to COVID-19

Calgary-based Shaw Communications announced on Tuesday that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it'll temporarily lay off 10% of its workforce. The company said the layoffs will begin on Thursday, April 16, affecting fewer than 1,000 of its 10,000 employees. Most of the laid-off staff work in retail and sales roles. Shaw and Shaw-owned Freedom Mobile closed most of its retail stores to comply with government directives to help slow the spread of the virus.

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OnePlus goes full flagship with the OnePlus 8, 8 Pro

OnePlus has been slowly increasing its price that it's now fully shed its "flagship killer" moniker and finds itself firmly in flagship territory. The OnePlus 8 Pro has a starting price of $1,399, while the OnePlus 8's starting price is $1,099. Both will be available through OnePlus.com starting April 29. What do you get with that much money? Let's take a look.

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Samsung will discontinue its S Voice assistant on June 1, 2020

If you've been a Samsung smartphone user for a while, then you will be familiar with S Voice. Well, it's time to say goodbye to the voice assistant as the company plans to discontinue it on June 1, 2020. Samsung has since replaced S Voice with Bixby. It isn't as conversational as Bixby, Google Assistant, or Siri. Still, S Voice was able to perform a few tasks when you issue voice commands like asking it to call someone, remind you of an appointment, run an internet search, or launch navigation apps with directions to your desired location. 

S Voice was replaced by Bixby back when Samsung launched the Galaxy S8, so you probably don't even have to think about this assistant going away. It will affect devices like the Galaxy A3, A5, A7, A8, A9, Galaxy Note FE, Galaxy Note 2, 3, 4, 5, Galaxy S3, 4, S5, S6, S6 edge, as well as the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2, Galaxy W, Galaxy Tab 4, Galaxy Tab 4 8.0/10.1, Galaxy Tab S8.4, and S10.5. If you own one of these devices and surprisingly used S Voice, your only alternative is using Google Assistant, which isn't an inadequate substitute considering Bixby has its problems, too.

Source: SamMobile

Nintendo warns you against using alcohol to clean your Switch Joy-Cons

Photo courtesy of Nintendo

In the age of the COVID-19 pandemic, it's a necessity to clean devices you use frequently. And we know a lot of Nintendo Switch users are making the most out of their game consoles. Naturally, the first instinct is to disinfect the Switch with alcohol or disinfecting wipes. But Nintendo warns against doing so. 

Kotaku translated a tweet from Nintendo Customer Service that alcohol shouldn't be used with Joy-Cons. "Recently, customers have been asking whether they can disinfect their Nintendo Switch consoles and Joy-Cons with alcohol," the tweet said. "We're very sorry to say please avoid using alcohol as it may cause the plastic parts to fade in colour or deform."

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